Internet personalities/“influencers”
Are they fundamentally different from celebs and TV personalities of the past, or is it the scale and presentation that has changed?
There will always be grifters and those who are led in to loyalty follow them. It’s bizarre.
One way money transfers, controlling people’s time and career aspirations, dividing families, rape, and murder.
Not all “Influencers”, but some notable cases.
CrossFit.
so many people get injured from that.
Cult leadership
I wanted to start my own cult, but didn’t know where to start. Luckily, I found a great group of people who had the same interest! Now we meet every Tuesday!
cult leaders tend to be grifters too.
I second DnD and Warhammer, and i’ll add Magic the Gathering to this list
Yeah, anything that has you speaking in game jargon in public should qualify.
One of my friends at a pizza place a few years ago: “I can’t believe I didn’t get to poison anyone last night.”
Me: “Dude, context! We are in public!”
First intro to MtG was in college I walked past a room with the lights out and only candles lit, the four people were wearing robes and playing… MtG. Decided right then that nah, that’s too far for me.
Candlelit MtG? They were either having a terrible date or daring the other to burn their decks
the people trying to defend the current MTG UBs which are using IP from different franchise(which are not original mtg developed cards, things like spider man, finanl fantasy, borderlands,etc.)
thats sounds like DND. i played MTG in hs, it was mostly in HS cafeteria or in a secluded room with friends, and someone that works there, we dont play outside of school though and nobody in CC played it, so i stopped playing it, but sitll collected it for a few more years.
vtubers
following a certain youtuber too. i onced followed some asian youtubers, that i stopped when they msygonistically “attacked an female employee and fired her, and turned super right”. they even have these 2 loser female fans spend 24/7 patrolling thier channels gatekeeping and astroturfing the comment sections. and the rest of the fans are just as bad, it just reeks of incels for thier viewership and fangirl/groupies.
Buying used panties from onlyfans sites.
To frame them… right?
I got the panties from a Drag performance, and then I wrote them on ig asking them for a signature. I’m still procrastinating the job to make them frame in the most baroque frame I can find.
Only if you’re not a fucking weirdo.
Religion. All of them are cults. Every single fucking one.
Nothing. No other hobby even comes close to the death, genocide, rape, murder, and hate generated by that type of religious cult. It’s every single year, too. Every single year religion tops its hate, greed, and pain inflicted on everyone.
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For a lot of people, when you look at how they spend their time, it is clear that their religion is both their belief system AND their hobby.
Think of the “Bible study” types. They’ve turned it into a hobby-like activity. Some I knew growing up clearly had nothing else. It was their hobby.
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Choosing to believe in one set of imaginary friends over another- or none- is most certainly a hobby by every definition.
It is not essential for life. It is not required by law. People willingly choose and actively continue choosing to engage in the activities in their free time, and report positive feelings from doing so. When doubts arise, other members of the cult try hard to sway them to stay, often using threats. That’s a hobby. And a cult.
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If you spend more time to consider and think about the differences between spirituality and religion, you’d see what I’m getting at. There’s a blurring of lines sure, but a lot of these religious activities are not at all necessary for their beliefs, and merely a choice that fulfills them in a similar manner as other hobbies.
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I wouldn’t call a cult a belief system.
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Your particular brand of invisible sky wizard is different from my particular brand of invisible sky wizard. Die heretic!
I’m pretty sure that religion was mostly used as a kind of motivational tool for the masses, but without religion there probably would have been another excuse why the enemy needs to die
It’s always about resources and shit anyway
What a fun answer!
Yeah seriously. It’s pretty severely missed the point of this thread.
Ironic that it looks like someone came through and downvotes every answer in this thread other than this one, considering. It’d be pretty great if the mods banned whoever that was.
oh no not the downvotes how will my children eat! listen to yourself for fucks sake
To be clear, at the time I made that comment, every top-level response in this thread had precisely one downvote, apart from two. One had many downvotes (“Most of them”), obviously just not very constructive. The other was this one. It’s obviously the result of some troll.
and what a ghastly troll that must have been!! did you sleep ok?
Edgelord atheist mad at christianity and islam: “every religion is genocide and hate, and I hate them.”
Buddhists , jains, pagans, etc: “hey excuse you buddy.”
Baha’is would as well, but nobody ever remembers them. The one time I saw a question about TBF on Jeopardy, it was the Final Jeopardy question, and no one got it right.
I usually limit my ire to Abrahamic religions (though Buddhism’s track record isn’t completely clean).
I don’t know enough about the history of Jainism to say one way or another, though given what I know about it (ALL life is sacred), i imagine they’re probably the closest an organized religion can get to being unharmful.
I mean, Buddhists just did a genocide in Myanmar. They have a cleaner track record than Abrahamic faiths for sure, but if you spend serious time in actual Buddhist places it fills the exact same societal roles.
Neopaganism is a bit of an odd one out in that list, because it’s a newly invented thing.
I don’t think anyone would call their religion a hobby, though.
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Competitive Super Smash Bros Melee, we won’t ever die. And Nintendo has been trying to rub us out since 2008.
. And Nintendo has been trying to rub us out since 2008.
dedication like that… phew. impressive.
Nintendo has been trying to rub us out
“Stop, Nintendo. You’re just mashing it.”
Time to salt Nintendo.
Pickleball.
Seriously what is the deal with it? I remembered playing it in gym decades ago and everyone hated it. Now I see people lobbying for new freaking complexes for it. Let’s see if the fad lasts more than a year before dedicating public land space to it
It kinda looks like tennis for the unathletic, which means I should fit right in, but I have zero interest.
People should just play badminton… I remember that being pretty fun in gym class once everyone got decent enough for a few volleys (those rackets are tiny).
The best thing about badminton is saying the word “shuttlecock.”
It’s been lasted more than a year. Its super easy for beginners and the gap between never played and mediocre player is pretty small in my experience. Groups of different ages/skill/athleticism can play the game relatively easy together. You can get drunk while playing and still be good. You don’t have to break a sweat if you don’t want to. Games are short.
I think it gets way too much flak and it is a little too overhyped rn. But it’s a top contender for the ideal casual game.
You’re doing the cult thing.
lowk I am. Don’t knock it til you try it lol
Oh I’m not against it at all 😂 guy at work has been extolling the benefits for weeks now.
Adults going to DisneyWorld as if it was a sacred shrine
When I meet a chick in an online dating way, at the first mention of Disney I’m gone. Unmatch, block, whatever’s fastest.
Adults going to Disney without kids.
those are the one’s that I was thinking about
never understood the appeal either lol
Going to Disneyland, buying that doll, having that retro console, collecting all the items in the set, buying that vintage car, getting a fat hog to crank it up with…
Its melancholic nostalgia, having the things we could never have when we were young.
having the things we could never have when we were young
This is why I went through a period of collecting multi-cultural dolls in my 20s. When I was a kid and asked my mom for a black Barbie, she got weird about it and made me feel very uncomfortable. All over wanting a doll that wasn’t white. Fuck that noise, my Barbies span the human rainbow now.
I worked at Disneyland for 8 years. I still go there every year. It’s been over 10 years and I’m still running into people I used to work with and can shoot the shit with them for an hour.
For me, there is something about that place that I took ownership of, cared for people there, and tried to make it better in the small way I could. I see all the effort that so many people have and continue to put in and really appreciate the artistry and care these people have.
It’s a place that I feel comfortable in, and I like to just sit, listen to the music and the sounds of the crowds and people watch.
Went to Disney last year. Never again. Lines are too long, you must use a phone app to get 'fast access’s to rides, but fast access is now just normal access. Standby waits are over an hour for all rides. Some rides had no standby, so no phone app, no going on that one. Oh and the phone app has limited space that I found out is usually gone 5 min after opening at 6 am or some shit.
I had to wait 2 hours for jungle cruise while watching a non stop line of fast pass people just constantly walking on.
It’s too crowded, elbow to elbow people.
Still 20.00 for a crap hamburger.
Tickets were like 380 for 2 of us.
Save your money and leave Disney for the foreign stupid tourists
Hard agree on pretty much all of that.
But it’s still my friends and I get in for free, I’ve been literally thousands of times (most of them Disney paid me to be there) and I, maybe, get on one or two rides a day, if I go on any at all.
And do what they told me to do for 8 hours. In return, I got in for free.
I did have the occasional shift that was stress test a new thing so they could train. So riding an attraction that wasn’t open yet for 4 hours was pretty fun.
We foreign stupid tourists have Disney Land Paris, thank you very much.
Still 20.00 for a crap baguette.
the florida disney is mostly visited by canadians
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Sure, but a lot of those people there are my friends. You can find plenty of posts from me criticizing their management, board, and CEO. I don’t like how the company is run or many of their projects. But a lot of people there are actual friends of mine, and it’s an avenue for a lot of their art to be seen by the world.
I’m a big fan of theme parks and live entertainment. I haven’t seen anywhere that really compares with them on that front. I’m not familiar with anywhere else that does a parade multiple times a day, fireworks practically every night, a dozen small theatrical productions, a large technical fountain show, and an elaborate stage production every single day. Many with people I actually personally know running or working on them.
Disney makes money, and I agree they over charge for everything. But they also do put out a pretty good product for it. For the most part, at least. I have a lot of gripes about some of it because of the standards that I have after working there.
Oh, and I also still utilize friends that I have there to get in for free. I haven’t paid to go to a Disney park in nearly 2 decades.
its all those gifts, resorts, hotels and diners/food fees.
i read an article where a guy was going there almost everyday, or every chance because had nothing else to do. i think somewhere in that article mentioned that people were creeped or got suspicious because he is a man with no children at that place frequently.
Lots of people that live locally near Disneyland or Disney World have annual passes. Except for a few “blackout” dates you can go for free everyday. I can’t imagine why you would even go more than, maybe every 6 months.
old people
People who play Call of Chuthulu every single day
Where!? Point me in the direction of these people so I can uh… show them the error of their ways! But first I will have to gain their trust by joining, of course.
Anyone using Linux, based on 60% of the content on lemmy. Uh… maybe also lemmy.
Have you not heard of our Lord and Savior glorious Debian?
Heresy, the savior is Arch!
Burn the witch! openSUSE is the messiah.
I am not in a cult.
This is not a cult.
By the way since you never asked, can I interest you in a new way to use your computer?
How about Linux on a Thinkpad? DOUBLE CULT!
I am a puritan, I will not be satisfied until we have open source hardware, like reference RISC-V, to power
the holy wordLinux.Yes I know about MNT Reform or whatever, but the price and still some binary blobs.
Yeah MNTs are expensive but I like supporting OSHW. The rk3588 is good enough to daily drive.
Hey now, I pirated my Thinkpad thank you very much. Needed to make sure I stuck to my third cult.
Communism. There’s iconography, a separate way of using language, chanting, gatherings, books, meetings, clothing, hero mythology, doomsday plans of a revolution not unlike a rapture, and in some sects there are charismatic leaders and polyamory.
I don’t think that’s a hobby…
Communism isn’t a hobby or a lifestyle tho? its a political ideology.
In the US in 2025 it bears a strong resemblance to a hobby at times. No shade intended either. I’m a card-carrying member myself.
Just because something is a political ideology, doesn’t mean it can’t also be a hobby.
thats a political ideology identiy, it isnt a cult.
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A political ideology with cult-like tendencies.
Kirby.
TIL Kirby is a hobby.
Kirby vaccuums maybe? More like a MLM back in the day.
Definitely warhammer. Can’t stand those punks. Have you noticed a lot of warhammer lore reaction videos
Related but a lot of smaller LARP clubs (European style at least, can’t speak for America) end up extremely culty because of a perfect storm of factors:
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takes up loads of time and resources just to be average; making costumes, learning stats, downtime activities etc before you’ve even left the house
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predominantly twenty-somethings who recently moved out of their parents’ house and end up house-sharing with other LARPers from the same club
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the RPG + Am Dram elements mean that it takes years to be able to access a lot of the game, whether it be types of spellcasting or a character in a position of power. This means that if you want to quit your club for another one, you’re losing years of progression in a way that doesn’t happen with sports or most arts-based hobbies.
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spending whole weekends in the middle of the woods with no outside influence, where you have to follow instructions given by refs. It’s also not unusual to be up until sunrise or even do all-nighters playing through the next day as well
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success or failure at the game is often at the whims of said refs, MUCH more than in Warhammer
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…as a result of which, the club management hierarchy ends up translating into social hierarchy outside of official events. The people at the top are the ones that effectively determine whether a party, day trip or even a wedding is going to be a big event or not, and the regular membership treats them accordingly. So, culty as heck.
It’s like a microcosm of society itself in a way, guess we human beings can’t think outside of hierarchical structures
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